Ask the Board – April 18, 2016 | WADE FORST

What “calls to action” deliver the best results, and how are those results measured?

In the now mobile-obsessed world of engagement, our environments and habits within these smart spaces are changing. Our relationship to media, services, commerce and even people are being enhanced by digital platforms that have a holistic understanding of your online and offline presence. With this level of connectivity, data is being used to transition standard dayparting into a true one-to-one dialogue with an individual.

Calls to action are no longer offers or campaigns, but messages that are served up at the right time, right place and medium so they deliver the best results. Rather than forcing someone down a path, we are often guiding them through a journey of participation that delivers an experience that is both highly personalized and is often almost invisible.

A great example is how Google has turned traditionally disruptive messaging into opportunity and assistance with their Google Now application. Recently released on Android, is “Now On Tap.” It delivers predictive content based on voice, chat, photos and more. You can watch a good overview of the application on The Verge and read where it may be evolving here.

This new digital world is also equally obsessed with “measurement,” that moves beyond “the click.” As devices, apps, displays, spaces and even associates are listening and leveraging your information, results can be as complex or as simple as we care to track. Is it one’s gaze towards a piece of media, a tap to extend content onto a device, a share within a social network or even a path that one takes through a store. From proximity BLE beacon’s to computer vision and machine learning, the simple and straightforward world of measuring a CTA is becoming as complex as your audience demands it to be.